Senior Reflection: Nyanhial Pal

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05/13/2025 Added

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Nyanhial Pal gives a student reflection at the May 9, 2025 Celebration of Excellence.

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[00:00:00.000]Good evening all. My name is Nyanhial Pal. I am majoring in Psychology and I have minors in Child, Youth and Family Studies and Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs.
[00:00:14.000]I'm incredibly grateful to be sharing this stage with incredible faculty and students.
[00:00:19.000]In these next couple of minutes, I want to take you through my undergraduate journey from uncertainty to discovering my passion for diversifying the field of psychology.
[00:00:31.000]As I reflected on my journey these past few weeks, I kept thinking about how surreal it is to be standing here.
[00:00:37.000]When I first arrived to UNL, I planned to stay for just two years before transferring elsewhere to pursue nursing.
[00:00:45.000]But like many health professions, nursing programs often require work experience.
[00:00:49.000]So at the beginning of my sophomore year, I became a medical scribe, but it felt like something was missing.
[00:00:56.000]I had the opportunity to work with amazing doctors.
[00:00:59.000]Dr. Hussein, who specialized in family medicine and cared for many immigrants and refugees in the city of Lincoln.
[00:01:06.000]Through working with her, it quickly became clear that the challenges that these patients face extended beyond their physical health.
[00:01:15.000]During visits, whenever the doctor would recommend,
[00:01:18.000]seeing a mental health professional for any psychological symptoms causing distress,
[00:01:23.000]many patients expressed fear that these professionals wouldn't understand their lived experiences.
[00:01:29.000]At the same time of me working as a scribe, I noticed something happening in my own community.
[00:01:35.000]A silent mental health crisis among many young adults.
[00:01:39.000]Across both groups, there was a shared sentiment and a fear of being misunderstood.
[00:01:44.000]This was especially true for many first and second generations.
[00:01:47.000]Second generation Americans.
[00:01:50.000]This was the moment I felt called to do something.
[00:01:53.000]I didn't know exactly what it would look like, but I knew I needed to shift directions.
[00:02:00.000]I enrolled in the introductory psychology course and learned about clinical psychology,
[00:02:06.000]and it instantly felt like the right path to pursue.
[00:02:09.000]I'm grateful to my psychology advisors, like Michaela Tegler and Alexis Partridge,
[00:02:16.000]for telling me about the steps needed to pursue this path.
[00:02:19.000]I previously -- well, after figuring out what I needed to do, I knew I needed to participate in research.
[00:02:26.000]So my junior year, I joined Dr. Dennis Wachargu's IMPACT Lab, which was previously known as the Be Smart Lab,
[00:02:33.000]and I worked closely with Dr. Dennis Wachargu and his graduate students, Patrick, Ashlyn, and Therese.
[00:02:40.000]They helped me build a solid foundation in research as I came in completely new.
[00:02:44.620]you to the realm of academia. I didn't know what was coming up.
[00:02:48.610]So they definitely gave me a solid foundation. With my background as a scribe
[00:02:52.610]and my desire to work with immigrant and refugee populations,
[00:02:56.610]I also explored UNL's course catalog and found out about the human
[00:03:00.610]rights minor. And eventually
[00:03:04.610]in my junior year, Cass offered a study abroad trip to Kigali,
[00:03:08.610]Rwanda. Many of the classes and my trip
[00:03:12.610]aligned perfectly with the communities I wanted to serve and would help
[00:03:16.610]equip me with the background knowledge I need to understand the diverse experiences
[00:03:20.610]of different immigrant and refugee populations.
[00:03:24.610]My identity is also a major part of my journey. I come from
[00:03:28.610]a South Sudanese background, specifically Nuer, which is a tribe located
[00:03:32.610]near the Nile River. In the Nuer culture, song
[00:03:36.610]and stories hold deep meaning. I truly believe entering the field
[00:03:40.610]of psychology has allowed me to explore how our stories continue to unfold
[00:03:44.610]not as unfinished chapters,
[00:03:48.610]but as a twad, as they say in the Nuer language,
[00:03:52.610]which is a life song of ongoing collective experiences
[00:03:56.610]and aspirations. My life song
[00:04:00.610]up to this point is a reflection of the many people who said yes to me,
[00:04:04.610]who believed in me even when I doubted myself.
[00:04:08.610]I often felt like the odds were against me. It was hard
[00:04:12.610]not to fear the statistics, knowing that only about 4% of psychologists
[00:04:16.610]are black, with even a smaller percentage of them being black women.
[00:04:20.610]Sometimes my dreams felt too audacious, but today,
[00:04:24.610]thanks to the support of many in the College of Arts and Sciences,
[00:04:28.610]with a special shout out to the Impact Lab, Dr. McCargue,
[00:04:32.610]Dr. Julia Riley, Dr. Amanda Williamson up here,
[00:04:36.610]and Dr. Mariana Burks, my friends who are here today, Yoncore,
[00:04:40.610]Manal, Fatima, and Gisela, and most importantly,
[00:04:44.610]my family, who continuously push me to pursue higher education.
[00:04:48.610]I'm proud to say that I'll be joining that 4%
[00:04:52.610]of black psychologists. This fall, I'll begin my PhD in
[00:04:56.610]clinical psychology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. I plan to continue
[00:05:00.610]research that addresses the needs of immigrants and refugee communities
[00:05:04.610]and explores resilience and centers the role of identity and community and mental
[00:05:08.610]health with Dr. Johanna Nielsen. I hope my journey and my
[00:05:12.610]presence on this stage today encourage others to travel the unknown path.
[00:05:16.610]Even when fear or doubt whispers that you are not capable,
[00:05:20.610]please remember that you are. Thank you all so much for listening to my story.
[00:05:24.610]Thank you.
[00:05:25.170]Thank you.
[00:05:27.170]Thank you.

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Senior Reflection: Nyanhial Pal

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